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Description:Kelly Macdonald is a Scottish actress, known for her role in the independent film Trainspotting and mainstream releases such as Nanny McPhee, Gosford Park, Intermission, No Country for Old Men and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2. On television, she is known for her roles in Boardwalk Empire, The Girl in the Café and State of Play.
Macdonald's career began while working as a barmaid. She saw a leaflet advertising an open casting session for Trainspotting and decided to audition, winning the part of Diane, the underage seductress to Ewan McGregor's Renton. Other roles include Mary O'Neary in Two Family House aKelly Macdonald is a Scottish actress, known for her role in the independent film Trainspotting and mainstream releases such as Nanny McPhee, Gosford Park, Intermission, No Country for Old Men and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2. On television, she is known for her roles in Boardwalk Empire, The Girl in the Café and State of Play.

Macdonald's career began while working as a barmaid. She saw a leaflet advertising an open casting session for Trainspotting and decided to audition, winning the part of Diane, the underage seductress to Ewan McGregor's Renton. Other roles include Mary O'Neary in Two Family House and an actress playing Peter Pan in Finding Neverland. She also had major roles in Robert Altman's British period piece Gosford Park, where she played an aristocrat's maid, as well as in Intermission (2003), as Deirdre.

On television, her highest-profile roles have been in two BBC dramas, the Paul Abbott serial State of Play (2003) and the one-off Richard Curtis piece The Girl in the Café (2005). Both of these were directed by David Yates, and both also starred Bill Nighy. For her performance in The Girl in the Café, Macdonald was nominated for a Golden Globe in 2006, and won an Emmy.

Macdonald starred in the 2005 film Nanny McPhee, as the scullery maid Evangeline, and has since had supporting roles in A Cock and Bull Story (2006), and the Coen brothers' Academy Award-winning No Country for Old Men, (2007), Her agent was originally unsure she was right for the latter part, and Macdonald is reported as having to "fight for the role". Her persistence paid off, however, as she was nominated for a BAFTA for Best Supporting Actress. Other films where she had supporting roles include Choke (2008), as Dr. Paige Marshall, the film which was adapted by Clark Gregg from the 2001 Chuck Palahniuk novel, In the Electric Mist (2009) (based on James Lee Burke's In the Electric Mist with Confederate Dead (1993)), as Kelly Drummond, alongside Tommy Lee Jones and John Goodman and Skellig (2009), as Louise. She also played the lead in The Merry Gentleman (2008), as Kate Frazier. She currently plays Margaret Schroeder on HBO's Boardwalk Empire. Her next project is the romantic comedy The Decoy Bride opposite David Tennant.

In 2011, she played the Grey Lady, revealed to be Helena Ravenclaw, in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2, the final instalment of the Harry Potter film franchise. She replaced Nina Young, the original actress.

TRIVIA

1999: Named as one of European films 'Shooting Stars' by European Film Promotion.

Auditioned for roles in The Matrix (1999), Shakespeare in Love (1998) and Moulin Rouge! (2001).

Trainspotting (1996) was released on Kelly's 20th birthday.

Was two months pregnant with her son Freddie when she completed filming on Choke (2008).

Returned to work six months after giving birth to her son Freddie in order to begin filming Skellig: The Owl Man (2009) (TV).

For her role on Boardwalk Empire (2010) (TV), she was named one of the "8 Actors Who Turn Television into Art," in cover story of The New York Times Magazine (9/11/11).